Wednesday night came with a harsh reminder that the Stanley Cup is not going to be simply handed to the Bruins.

In what was one of their ugliest losses of the season, the Bruins blew their chance to go up 2-0 in their first-round series with the Panthers, and were instead credited with 15 giveaways (honestly feels like they had twice as many as that). The Black and Gold paid for that downright disastrous puck management by way of a 6-3 loss to the Panthers, which was a brutal final score when you consider that the Bruins and Panthers entered the second intermission even at 2-2.

“I just think when we fell down 4-2, I didn’t think we regrouped or reset,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said after the loss. “Most of the year, we’ve been able to take a breath, reset and go back to our game. We didn’t go back to our game when it went 4-2. I thought we got back to our game in the first two periods, every time we fell behind we got back to our game. A lot of what we did in the first two periods I liked, except for getting high scoring chances with screens at the net front.”

The loss also featured one of Linus Ullmark’s rougher nights, as Boston’s ace was tagged for five goals on 29 shots, while the Panthers’ Alex Lyon grabbed the win behind a 34-of-37 performance at the other end.

Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars of the game from a series-tying defeat at TD Garden…

• No. 3 Star: Brad Marchand

  

  Apr 19, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) celebrates his goal against the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden. (Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)

• On a night where almost nobody in a Boston sweater looked good, the Bruins can take some comfort in Brad Marchand staying hot with yet another goal.

  With the Bruins appearing poised for an 0-2 hole after a Hampus Lindholm put the Bruins back on the kill, Marchand received a slick dish from Anthony Duclair and had nothin’ but space between himself and Panthers goaltender Alex Lyon. And as you (probably) could’ve predicted, Marchand did not miss.

• Brad Marchand wakes up TD Garden. pic.twitter.com/hA0U8gAxdB

  — Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) April 20, 2023

• The Shorthanded King of Boston, you may be surprised to learn that this was actually Marchand’s first shorthanded playoff goal since Game 3 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final against the Vancouver Canucks. (I know I was.)

  With the goal, Marchand has now scored in seven straight home playoff games.

  The Bruins also out-attempted Florida by a 17-8 mark and held a 9-5 advantage in shots during Marchand’s 11 minutes and change of five-on-five action.

• No. 2 Star: Sam Bennett

  

  Apr 19, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) scores on Boston Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (35) from his knees in Game 2 of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. (Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)

• The return of Sam Bennett to the Florida lineup came with immediate results for Paul Maurice’s club, as Bennett opened up the scoring this game and finished with a team-high seven shots on goal in the victory.

  “The interesting thing about Sam Bennett – somebody asked me this question earlier; they talked about his kind of point production is down a little bit, but, Matthew Tkachuk has had a career year; [Eetu] Luostarinen has had a career year; [Carter] Verhaeghe has had a career year, and all three of those guys have played with Sam Bennett for the better part of the year, and that’s his strength,” Maurice said. “He drives the play. He plays so damn hard and drives the play. What do they always say about great players? They make the players around them better. So, Sam has been so important to us this year – even like in a heart and soul – he gets injured and we lose him; we lose the next four games. Now we’ve got to find a way to rally around that, but he’s been fantastic for us.”

• WELCOME BACK SAM BENNETT ‼️ pic.twitter.com/0iHPYocPxP

  — Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) April 20, 2023

• Together for 7:21 of five-on-five time on ice, the Verhaeghe-Bennett-Tkachuk line held an on-ice edge in shot attempts (7-4), shots (5-4), and goals (2-0). The Bennett-Tkachuk duo also had success with Luostarinen to their left, with an on-ice edge in shot attempts (6-3) and shots (6-0) in just 3:48 of five-on-five time together. Add it up and that’s a 13-7 shot attempt advantage, 11-4 edge in shots, and 2-0 edge in goals with Bennett driving the play.

  It also had a trickle-down effect for Panthers, who were able to demote Anton Lundell down to the third line, while Eric Staal moved down to the Panthers’ fourth line.

• No. 1 Star: Brandon Montour

  

  Apr 19, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Florida Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour (62) celebrates his goal as Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) skates away in Game 2 of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. (Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports)

• The Bruins entered this series knowing that Brandon Montour, fresh off the highest-scoring regular season by any Panther defenseman in the franchise’s history, was going to be a problem.

  It took just two games for ’em to live with that problem, too, as Montour scored a pair of third-period goals, including the game-winning goal, in what was a nuclear meltdown kind of third period for Boston.

• Brandon Montour cranks one past Ullmark from deep for his second goal of the game, 5-2 Florida!#TimeToHunt pic.twitter.com/ujoFpCLDAp

  — Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) April 20, 2023

• The Bruins had an absolute hellish time during the 2022 playoffs when it came to denying the Hurricanes’ shooting threats from the blue line, and you have to hope that the Bruins find a way to nip this in the bud before Montour goes on a straight-up scoring spree at the B’s expense.

  Montour also set another team record in the win, as his first third-period goal was scored at the 22-second marker of the frame, making it the fastest goal to open up a period in Florida’s team history.

  After a season in which Brandon Montour set @FlaPanthers' records for goals (tied), assists and points by a blueliner, @MontourBrandon added his name atop another franchise record.#NHLStats: https://t.co/7mVTpPpJNX pic.twitter.com/NxZRnRqLYO

  — NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 20, 2023

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